The goal of this workshop session is to enhance the skills of researchers that value scientific outreach to primary and secondary classrooms. During this 1.5-hour session we will explore the role of scientists in the classroom, share ways to establish working relationships with teachers, and deconstruct and clarify complex research topics into tangible and relevant pieces. This session will be hands-on and discussion based. Each participant will leave with ideas specific to their research field and skills relevant to improving their classroom-based education and outreach efforts.

Social media is a powerful tool used by millions worldwide. This session will investigate how scientists can use social media as an outreach tool to create engaging content on three forms of media - twitter, blogs and podcasts. We will give a practical introduction to this emerging field of science communication while providing practical examples and resources to help you get started communicating your research online.

Think about picking one part of your research to communicate, or giving a brief summarySo that other attendees can see your Twitter handle, please RSVP here: www.bit.ly/apecsrsvpIf you don't have a Twitter account - please consider creating one.If you need assistance with this, please visit www.tweetyourscience.com and/or contact Kimberley Collins for assistance.Collaborative notes and resources will be shared in the following Google Doc – www.bit.ly/apecsdoc

In a world supersaturated with standard media approaches, how can we extend a creative approach to sharing science? In this session, Science Communication lecturer, Jenny Rock, and two of her masters students, Ellen Sima and Lydia McClean, explore some radical perspectives and share some practical experience, on everything from art-science, visualisations, and animations, to creative survey work as a teaching & engagement point. In the second part of the session we will work together to hothouse ideas for your own communication goals. Bring: ideas to hothouse if you’ve got em, a willingness to think outside the box!

Artists and academics Megan Jenkinson and Ruth Watson, both of whom have been to the ice, wish to discuss effective communication using photographic imagery as part of your work. Participants are asked to bring along an example of something they did that they found successful – i.e., effective for their purposes – or conversely, a visual communication disaster. There will be brief presentations from both Megan and Ruth before moving onto workshopping the material brought along. If participants have time to layout their images/contributions inside the case room over the lunch break, up to half an hour before the workshop begins, the presenters would take the opportunity to review those works in advance.

Ten things you should know about effective science communication. The media landscape is changing rapidly and there is more scope than ever for motivated, savvy scientists to have an influence on the way their areas of research are seen by the public. Having a basic understanding of the needs of different media, and being willing to adapt, can make a huge difference in how much impact you will have. In this workshop we will give practical tips from first-hand experience for improving your engagement with media.

There are many ways that we build community and share information within and across disciplines - some more subtle than others. The traditional form, of course, is through conference presentations and peer-review publishing. But how often, really, do you read a paper or attend a conference talk that’s way outside your discipline? What mechanisms exist to bring down some of those barriers and share knowledge more widely? Is it just about our inability to understand - or also partly the responsibility of those doing the telling? More subtle methods for building community involve networking, making a name for yourself through blogs and twitter, and that fine art of leaving a lasting impression… This workshop will explore all these aspects, and more, and see if - collectively - we can put good intention to practice by developing a few strategies to play with during the SCAR conference that follows.